mahad-vicalanaá¹ ná¹á¹‡Äá¹
gá¹›hiṇÄá¹ dÄ«na-cetasÄm
niḥśreyasÄya bhagavan
kalpate nÄnyathÄ kvacit
3 times this text was mentioned in purports to other texts: CC(1) , SB(1) , TLC(1)
mahat-vicalanam - the movement of great personalities; ná¹á¹‡Äm - in the houses of ordinary persons; gá¹›hiṇÄm - especially householders; dÄ«na-cetasÄm - who are very simple-minded, being engaged in family maintenance and nothing more; niḥśreyasÄya - a great personality has no reason to go to the gá¹›hastha but to benefit him; bhagavan - O most powerful devotee; kalpate - is to be taken that way; na anyathÄ - not for any other purpose; kvacit - at any time.
O my lord, O great devotee, persons like you move from one place to another not for their own interests but for the sake of poor-hearted gá¹›hasthas [householders]. Otherwise they have no interest in going from one place to another.
As factually stated by Nanda MahÄrÄja, Garga Muni, being a devotee, had no needs. Similarly, when Kṛṣṇa comes He has no needs, for He is pÅ«rṇa, ÄtmÄrÄma. Nonetheless, He descends to this material world to protect the devotees and vanquish miscreants (paritrÄṇÄya sÄdhÅ«nÄá¹ vinÄÅ›Äya ca duá¹£ká¹›tÄm). This is the mission of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and devotees also have the same mission. One who executes this mission of para-upakÄra, performing welfare activities for people in general, is recognized by Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as being very, very dear to Him (na ca tasmÄn manuá¹£yeá¹£u kaÅ›cin me priya-ká¹›ttamaḥ). Similarly, Caitanya MahÄprabhu has advised this para-upakÄra, and He has especially advised the inhabitants of India:
bhÄrata-bhÅ«mite haila manuá¹£ya-janma yÄra
janma sÄrthaka kari’ kara para-upakÄra
“One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [BhÄrata-vará¹£a] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people.†(Cc. Ä€di 9.41) On the whole, the duty of a pure Vaiṣṇava devotee is to act for the welfare of others.
Nanda MahÄrÄja could understand that Garga Muni had come for this purpose and that his own duty now was to act according to Garga Muni’s advice. Thus he said, “Please tell me what is my duty.†This should be the attitude of everyone, especially the householder. The varṇÄÅ›rama society is organized into eight divisions: brÄhmaṇa, ká¹£atriya, vaiÅ›ya, śūdra, brahmacarya, gá¹›hastha, vÄnaprastha and sannyÄsa. Nanda MahÄrÄja represented himself as gá¹›hiṇÄm, a householder. A brahmacÄrÄ« factually has no needs, but gá¹›hÄ«s, householders, are engaged in sense gratification. As stated in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (2.44), bhogaiÅ›varya-prasaktÄnÄá¹ tayÄpahá¹›ta-cetasÄm. Everyone has come to this material world for sense gratification, and the position of those who are too attached to sense gratification and who therefore accept the gá¹›hastha-ÄÅ›rama is very precarious. Since everyone in this material world is searching for sense gratification, gá¹›hasthas are required to be trained as mahat, great mahÄtmÄs. Therefore Nanda MahÄrÄja specifically used the word mahad-vicalanam. Garga Muni had no interest to serve by going to Nanda MahÄrÄja, but Nanda MahÄrÄja, as a gá¹›hastha, was always perfectly ready to receive instructions from a mahÄtmÄ to gain the real benefit in life. Thus he was ready to execute Garga Muni’s order.
